the evangelical vote is so important to both barack obama and mitt romney, what do you say to your flock when they come and see you and say look, joel, i can't work out who to vote for, what do you say to them? >> well, piers, i just go back to a central theme of encouraging everybody to vote, to search their own heart, because it's interesting, good people of faith can read the scripture and interpret it differently. i have democrats and republicans in our church that love the lord, you know, that couldn't be any better people but they just, you know, different issues speak to them. >> the president, though, is a conventional christian. mitt romney is a mormon. and there are fundamental differences. the holy trinity definition in both is very, very different. the mormons believe there are the father, son and holy spirit. obviously, the christian faith believes they're all the same thing. how do you deal with that? surely your natural leaning would be towards the guy that believes the same that you do. >> i think you're right in that instance. i think also, though, you look at the

the united nations today, president obama condemned anti-american rioting in the muslim world but called for a deeper look into the causes. >> president obama aimed his united nations speech first at u.s. voters to reassure them that he is handling the twin middle east crises. two weeks are not simply an assault on america. >> crisis one was the attack in libya that caused what -- cost four u.s. lives and the anti american riots throughout the middle east. president obama urged understanding. >> if we are serious about these ideas, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of the crisis. >> also in new york, mitt romney said a big cause is not enough jobs in muslim nations. he promised aid to promote private industry. >> nothing we can do as a nation will make a more permanent change than sharing the insight that lies at the foundation of america's own economy. >> crisis number two is iran. mahmoud ahmadinejad yesterday called for the elimination of israel. >> make no mistake, a nuclear iran is not a challenge that can be contained. >> the prime minister of israel is publicly

addition to taping an interview with first lady michelle obama for "the view, "the president has a new advertisement hitting the air. >> mitt romney continues as battleground state court in colorado as he tries to rebound from a terrible week. national polls show that -- say the white house race is tight but obama leads in the battleground states. in denver last night, mitt romney slammed the president's record. >> it is clear that we can afford four more years like the last four years. that is why we will get change filing in washington that the people of america deserve better when mitt romney arrives and ohio tomorrow, he will be greeted by a new tv ad from the obama campaign attacking the gop nominee for saying 47% of americans are dependent on the government and view themselves as victims. >> doesn't the president have to worry about everyone? >> as the campaign steps up efforts in battleground states, some in the republican party worry of the collection is slipping away. >> he has an inability to focus on their own essential meaning. >> president of bumblebee in the york today an

role in the election. and president obama is the likely benefactor of that. the latest nbc news poll shows him well ahead in the key swing states and every ballot cast early for mr. obama is one less voter that mitt romney can win over. steve handelsman is on capitol hill with the latest on this. steve? >> reporter: wendy, thanks. early voting, the official election day is november 6th, but that's actually really the last day you can vote. >> today is election day. >> reporter: in iowa today, michelle obama kicked off what she hopes becomes a stampede. >> are you fired up? are youeady to vote? are you going to go vote right now? >> reporter: the first lady sent voters to a satellite voting site across the street. so they could cast ballots on the spot. early voting started yesterday in this battleground state, and the turnout is breaking records. >> this is well over double what we did four years ago. >> reporter: most of these early voters say they're voting obama. >> well, i think it's because we're all excited and the romney people just aren't that excited. >> reporter: mitt romne

who should be upset are rank and file republicans. the democrats are going great guns. obama registered 250,000 new voters in north carolina. everybody said north carolina won't really be competitive this time. i thought that along with indiana, it was probably those two states he was most likely to lose yet he's holding up in the polls. if he carries it, it's probably going to be that registration edge from the massive registration he's doing and now the republicans can't do. >> watching some of the -- one of the things i did was watch a lot of local news coverage of how this is being covered. hearing from people who live in colorado don't believe the polls. it's a lot closer than it seems. colorado is going to be really hard fought. maybe mitt romney had a hard time in the primaries in 2012. he did great in 2008. people will remember him. half of what the colorado party has spent on this election it's spent on that voter registration contract with this bogus company that's now been fired and can do no work in the last home stretch of the campaign. there's a basic competence

-sense proposals to remove these. president obama puts governments first. he wants to raise taxes on small businesses. he wants to keep our energy races under lock and key including the keystone xl pipeline. he wants more spending that will put us in debt to china. more of the same. where are the jobs that no wonder jobs are fleeing overseas. let's bring those jobs home, back to america, back to local businesses. there is one more thing i tell people. i tell them i have made restoring the american dream my life work. without it i would not be where i am today. eiger up in an under privilege neighborhood. i was the first person in my family to attend college. my mother and grandmother started cleaning the house is again when i did not have enough money for law school and my brother gave me everything he had. i would tell myself that if i ever got out of the environment i gear up when i would work hard to get others out and make it easier for them to have the same opportunities that have given me a chance to make a difference. that is why i am running for congress. it is why i know in

defeat president obama by making it harder for the elderly and minorities to vote. the judge ruled there was not enough time to enact the law to make sure some voters were not disenfranchised. >>> in less than 24 hours, president obama and mitt romney will square off in their presidential debates. both have been behind closed doors rehearsing for the first face-to-face meeting and tom fit earl has more. >> reporter: it's been interesting. publicly, both of these campaigns have been downplaying the importance of the first debate. the president is not going as -- is going as far as saying he's all right in these kinds of forums. clearly, what we know, is that these debates are important n. a race where the polls are putting the president ahead and not out of reach of mitt romney, it's the challenge who may have more to gain and lose. the president took a break from two days of debate rehearsals to visit one of his own campaign offices in las vegas. he brought pizza to the volunteers and made some phone calls to a couple of voters in the area and many were surprised to have the presid

country, then this debate happening on wednesday is the time. >> as president obama and mitt romney prepare for the debate in denver, survivors of recent shooting massacres are asking the moderator to ask the candidates about gun violence. we will speak with colin goddard, who survived the shooting at virginia tech in 2007, and to poet professor nikki g rabbani, who taught the shooter in her class. >> if you are not concerned about gun violence, what are you concerned about? >> first, the u.s. death toll an event -- afghanistan tops 2000. we talk about america's longest- running war. all that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. iran's currency has hit an all- time low amidst a worsening financial crisis brought upon by u.s.-led sanctions. on monday, the iranian rial dropped 15% to its lowest point against the dollar, capping a three-month contest that has seen its overall value drop 57%. the price of basic foods are on the rise since a new round of sanctions took place in july. a former u.s. ambassador to the un an

in the campaign, the bu python was a concern for the obama team. a tweet from obama's press secretary ensured that residents knew the administration has banned import of the steak. now, you may laugh and there is some humor in this, but it is very, very serious for some. ticks and snakes. because these micro targeting campaigns can really move the needle. they're important to crucial voters in crucial states like florida and virginia. ben smith, david frum, former adviser to george w. bush and corey elons. great to see you. so, you know, david, i have to say, lyme disease with so many to joke about this, it's got to be there's some crucial core of lyme disease cases and this is something people care about. turns out loudon county, northern virginia, has one of the highest rates of lyme disease in the country. could this issue really resonate? >> resognates with me. i've had lyme disease. it's nasty. it also is a way for candidates to connect with real issues to real people. who feel that a lot of the issues we discuss are awfully abstract. i mean, benghazi and the embassy, t

. >> and moving from one battle ground state to the next. both president obama and mitt romney will be in virginia. the president will speak to a crowd in virginia beach and mitt romney will attend a rally in fairfax county. it shows president obama ahead by 7 percent of error three percent. >> iran's president said our country is in cahoots with the difficult and his view of the world does not include our country or israel. >> major defense contractor slashing jobs. they blamed financial hard ship. the pentagon plans to slash 500 billion from the budget unless congress steps n. president regan once called him a national treasure. moon river singer andy williams has died after a year long battle with cancer. ♪ moon river. [applause] ♪ ♪ i'm crossing you in style some day. >> such a beautiful voice. williams voice spanned decades . he hosted a andy williams show and spun off to his famous christmas specials. he was friends with elvis and bobby kennedy. bobby kennedy once asked him to be a delegate. >> i can't do this for you. because i was a republican. he never knew i was a republic

candidato y actual presidente democrata barack obama el jueves . . . nat! ambos se dirigieron a los latinos . hablaron de la economia, educacion, salud pero el tema mas candente sin duda fue inmigracion sobre lo que dijeron esto es lo que piensan algunos latinos en el area capitalina "no se pero no le creo." "es el inteligente, juega con eso, me entiende?' "por que al principio le prometen a uno y no le cumplen " en el tema de inmigracion obama asumio la responsabil idad por no haber logrado una reforma migratoria en el primer ano de su mandato y nego que usar la accion diferida con el proposito de ganar el voto latino.barack obay candidato democrata "como tu me recordaste es que no se ha logrado una reforma migracion pero no es por falta de tratar o deseo." romney por su parte dijo que de ser elegido no habra deportaciones masivas de indocumentdos mitt romney/candidato republicano"no vamos a hacer una de 12 millones de personas ni nos y padres y deportar a todo el mundo, nuestro sistema no es el de deportar a la personas." ambas declaraciones tienen a mariano bravo indeciso a 6 semanas par

loose seats on american airlines flights. >>> political showdown. president obama and mitt romney hunker down for their high stakes debate in denver. >>> and bumpy ride. a 10-year-old philadelphia boy is arrested after swiping and a 10-year-old philadelphia boy is arrested after swiping and crashing a van. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> hello and good morning. i'm lynn berry. and today we begin with air scare. suspicion is swirling around american airlines after two flights in three days were returned to new york's jfk airport. the reason, passenger seats came loose on both planes. the first incident occurred on a flight from miami to boston. >> during flights, passenger seats came loose out of the floor. passengers are unable to sit in that seat. >> the federal aviation administration says seating in both plains had undergone maintenance. they have grounded eight 757s for inspection. >>> to politics where president obama and rival mitt romney will not be campaigning today, opting instead to prep for the first of the three debates that they will have starting to

the public is evenly divided. foreign policy, president obama has the edge there, too, but that topic won't come up until the third and final debate on october 22nd. in washington, i'm shannon travises back to you. >>> jim lair from pbs will be the moderator. catch the debate wednesday at 9:00. here on abc 2 news. >>> weather a big topic, people need to be prepared with umbrellas. the showers will be hanging around for a while. we are seeing them trying to slide in to baltimore. see what is going on with the heaviest rain towards the south and west. a batch of rain nows on the border of carroll county and baltimore county as of now. let's zoom in to the area. we will deal with light rain around reisterstown and garrison. this will work out of here, we have rain behind that. speaking of rain, there it is, if you are traveling in to virginia today, this morning, you could see heavy rain here, you are going to need the wipers on full blast through time. the the bus stop, that forecast is going to be a wet one this morning for the kids. make sure you dress them appropriatelies they

a sharper contrast between himself and president obama. sally kidd is in washington with our commitment 2012 coverage. >> mitt romney has opened up an attack against the president, won the white house is calling desperate and offensive. campaigning in colorado, mitt romney blasted president obama for referring to the recent turmoil in the middle east as bombs in the road. the president made a comment on may 9. >> these are not bombs in the road. these are human lives. -- these are not bumps in the road. >> there is a certain rather desperate attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to find political a vantage. >> both campaigns are out with new ads, the run the ad accusing the president of not being tough on china. the obama camp released its first ad targeting romney's comments about 47% of americans who don't pay income taxes. >> may be romney should come clean on his taxes instead of attacking other people on theirs. >> he needs to break loose a segment of voters. people are not particularly enthusiastic about mitt romney as a person. he still has more negative than he d

severalals controversial calls from the i'm barack obama and pri approved this message. [ mitt romney ] there are 47% the people who will vote for the president no matter what... who are dedependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, thousing, to you-name-it... and they will vote for thi president no matter what... anand so my job is not to wory about those people. i'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- morning. welcome back. meteorologist jacqui jeras. eye-tracking a few showers on the doppler. we could pick up a quarter inch storms.with these you can see them moving out of e district into montgomery county, towards college park. of heavier showers near upper marlborough. -- a heavier shower. about 1.5 inches in remington. 0.86 in fairfax. temperatures will be warming the 80's this afternoon. partly sunny. showers and thunder

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> ifill: president obama and mitt romney are refining their attacks on each other over foreign policy, the economy, and taxes, as they count down to their first debate. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, we talk with npr's ari shapiro about the blitz of campaign ads in colorado springs, a republican- leaning city in a critical swing state. >> ifill: plus stuart rothenberg and susan page take us inside the strategy behind the message. >> woodruff: then, from syria, bill neely reports on the stalemate in the city of homs, as government troops target rebel bastions. >> one-and-a-half years after it began and the battle for this city and for syria grinds on relentlessly. the bombardment of hommes. the war here is as intense as ever. >> ifill: as world leaders gather in new york for the annual meeting of the united nations general assembly. margaret warner gives us a preview. >> woodruff: will new genetic findings reshape the treatment of breast cancer? we ask dr. harold varmus,

until election day president obama is out west. he landed in las vegas a little while ago where he's going to hold a rally later this evening. he'll be on the road through wednesday's presidential debate. >>> mitt romney is keeping a low profile this weekend. he went to church outside boston. he had no public events yesterday or today. he heads to colorado tomorrow where he'll hold a rally and continue his preparations for wednesday's showdown debate in denver. >>> meantime republican party officials cut ties with the consulting firm that florida election officials say turned in suspicious voter application forms. cnn's david mattingly has been investigating. what have you learned? >> this is florida. it's always close there. hugely important to both sides. we know it's going to be close this time. any time the topic of voter registration fraud comes up, it's going to get a lot of attention. strategic allied consulting was hired to register people to vote. that sounds pretty denine, like it wouldn't be a big problem. here is what happened. that company was fired last week by the repu

first of three debates looming next week. president obama was off the campaign trail today, traveling to new york for the united nations general assembly. while mitt romney was on the stump for a second day in colorado. >> what a pueblo, colorado, welcome. thank you so much. >> ifill: romney kicks off a bus tour in ohio tomorrow where he'll be greeted by a new obama television ad. >> mitt romney attacked 47% of americans who pay no income tax, including veterans, elderly, the disabled. >> ifill: but the romney camp is also on the offensive. >> fewer americans are working today than when president obama took office. it doesn't have to be this way. if obama would stand up to china. >> ifill: with its own tv ad charging obama is weak on trade against china. ovthe weekend both candidates used dueling interviews on cbs's "60 minutes" to make their case. romney was pressed to provide specifics on economic policy. >> well, i can tell them specifically what my policy looks like. i will not raise taxes on middle-income folks. i will not lower the share of taxes paid by high-income i

it's raising questions about what the obama administration knew about the volatile situation going on in bengazy. the writings found four days after he and three other americans were killed in an attack. cnn reports the journal mentions quote the rise in islamic extremism and al qaeda's growing presence if libya and revealed stevens believed he was on a hit list. we know he was on the list and tonight what we don't know is who else the ambassador told about concerns and why nothing was done to ensure his protection. because one thing is certain if an american ambassador took the time to put down and put into writing he is in fear for his life he likely expressed concerns to his colleagues at the state department and throughout the administration. where are the letters and where are the e mails? in other words what is the administration trying to hide? secretary of state hillary clinton asked about this report as it began to develop last week. let's take a look at this. >> there is one report suggesting that ambassador stevens felt that he was on a qorkts al qaeda hit list. sf this a r

group that's going to walk over to the board of elections and cast their ballot for barack obama. >> heroes have fought for it, heroes have died for it and we won't let anyone take it away. joining me now is congressman pa ttea from pennsylvania's second district, centered in pennsylvania. his district would have been heavily impacted by this voter i.d. law. congressman, thanks for joining me tonight. >> well, it's a great day. it's a day where we can -- we can bring the good news to the people. >> no, it is. and you and i have talked about this almost a year. many people have fought in the courts and many of us marching in the streets, but today was good because in your district at least this election, they will not face this impediment. >> well, and more than that, because, you know, we're focused on this election and we're less than 1,000 hours away from election day on november 6th. i don't know if people are voting in early voting around the country, they are today, but we have to remember this beyond this election season. we have to continue to fight these impediments. you

. >> president obama and gop challenger mitt romney plan to campaign in the battleground state of ohio today. they will focus on college students and working-class voters. mr. obama has campaign stops at penn state and bowling green university. romney has campaign stops including toledo and other spots. his running mate paul ryan will campaign in colorado today. army secretary expected to return to work soon after he was injured in a bicycle accident monday night in alexandria. he is resting comfortably at walter reed medical c center. he expects to fully resume duties once cleared by his doctors. >> it is 63 degrees. still ahead, the nationals hit a speed bump on their way to wrapping up the division. >> a close look at a tornado in the midwest. [ male announcer ] for the dreamers... and those well grounded. for what's aroun this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments and help ensure access to credit. because we know how important cash flow is to reaching your goals. pnc bank. for the

by next summer. that, perhaps, is a red timeline that the obama administration could live with. >>shepard: plenty on iran but thought as much as in times past on the palestinians. >>jonathan: that was significant. clearly, iran is the major focus for prime minister binyamin netanyahu this time. not so, and predictably so, for the palestinian leader. he came out swinging at israel, essentially accusing israel of derailing the entire peace process. he used some very emotional language in describing the israeli program of settlements. listen. >> it is a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the palestinian people through the their homes and prevention of their construction. >>jonathan: in response to that prime minister binyamin netanyahu said what he calls libelous language does not help the peace process. neither does unilateral declarations of statehood. >>shepard: thank you, jonathan hunt. joining us is an award wishing journalist and fox news contributor from los angeles. nice to see you. >>reporter: my pleasure. >>shepard: your thoughts on the words of the prime minister? >>r

traffic in that area for part of the morning commute. >>> politics now. president obama will go to the united nations tomorrow. he'll focus on the wave of anti-american violence that he has called a bump in the road. mitt romney today argued that the violence is more than a bump, it's a crisis and said he would have managed it better. steve handelsman is on capitol hill now with more on this. >> reporter: good evening. running for re-election, president obama is trying to reduce the public perception of a middle east crisis. and a u.s.-israeli controversy. president obama headed to new york where critics are assailing his priorities. he'll address the united nations. but make another cpaign appearance on "the view" like this one in may. instead of meeting one on one with world leaders. no meetings scheduled with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who's angered democrats by publicly demanding a tougher obama stance on iran. on "60 minutes," the president seemed to dismiss netanyahu as noise. >> any pressure that i feel is simply to do what's right for the american people. and i a

mean in the figures for today. let's say obama gets again 80% of the minority vote. let's say it again, to actually be competitive in this race, it would have to go up 18 points in this election. that turnout does not change despite the shift in eligibility. 26% as you can see on this chart. it is now based on a recent poll that came out. i think it is the gold standard for polls. no offense to anyone else in the room who had their own poll. they do it right and they have a 3000 person sample. it is pretty reliable stuff. they give you a lot of interesting demographic rates. this shows among likely voters that obama is leading by eight a point. if you look the averages, that is high relative to the average. the averages from about four points. probably up by five points, this is within the averages. the overall topline, look at the black black at the margin, 91 points, that seems identical with obama's margin in 2008. seventy-two among hispanics and it is not that far off. also 22 for romney. what it means is that the idea that obama could get 80% of the minority again it's actually qu

obama's foreign-policy just over a week before the to hold their first debate. romney criticized obama for referring to the latest middle east unrest as bonds and the road. he also vowed a foreign policy that he said would ship middle east politics, not just react to it. >> bombs in the road? we had an ambassador assassinated, a muslim brotherhood elect a member elected to the presidency of egypt. 20,000 people have been killed in syria. we of tumult in pakistan. iran is that much closer to having the capacity to build a nuclear weapon. this is time for a president who will shape events in the middle east, not just be merciful or be at mercy of the events in the middle east. i will get america on track at the kind of leadership we need so we can shape the future of this part of the world and keep america strong. >> romney was referring to obama's comments in an interview with "60 minutes." obama made what could be his most public rejection of the israeli government to date in that same interview. asked about unrelenting israeli pressure for military attack on iran, obama suggested such

obama's momentum. campaignng a pennsylvania. a romney campaign memo obtained cnn says the president will of nexte the winner week's first presidential debate denver, but it may not impact election.e of the in the first game of the nfl's referees regulara near moment. >> this was the the ravens game against the browns. they are being cheered right there. the fans will come to their return. then it was came time. -- game time. the ravens had a lead and held win.r the >> these guys are good. the communication was good. agree with every call. >> this was a ravens defender at end. at ravens's second attempt long.ll mary was too it was similar to monday night's debacle. google street you captures an unusual object. google street you captures an unusual[ male announcer ] for the dreamers... and those well grounded. for what's around this corner... and the next. there's cash flow options from pnc. solutions to help businesses like yours accelerate receivables, manage payments, and help ensure access to credit. because we know how important cash flow is to reaching your goals. pnc bank. for the a

be n virginia. president obama conceded they get out of hand. >> even some of his ads may go over the line. do you feel that is on both sides? >> i think they are a form of character assassination. i think our ads describe what we about his policies. >> he feels more people are getting to see their real hand. >> people are getting to know me better and better -- the real him. >> people are getting to know me better and better. >> i challenged him to share something few people know about. >> i love waterskiing and i to water ski, even i am the best in the family, i am pretty good. >> a staffer for the governor added he also makes a clean honeyof butter and sandwich. to win overte voters? maybe not. virginia could be decided by a few thousand votes. we have the entire interview on website, wjla.com. >> president obama also spent speaking toginia crowd in virginia beach. he said change takes more than s president and told audience he was not born wealth and privilege but he e of aere he is becaus great education. obama 1 virginia in over mittolds a lead romney in virginia. abc7 is yo